The Palestinians have had to freeze their application to become a member state of the International Olive Council due to opposition by Germany and Britain.

According to European diplomatic sources, German and British representatives claimed that letting the Palestinians join the council could sabotage the Israeli-Palestinian talks now taking place under American auspices. The talks’ resumption was conditioned on Israel releasing Palestinian prisoners in exchange for a Palestinian promise not to try to join various UN organizations, and not address the International Criminal Court in The Hague.

The Palestinian application, which was prepared this summer by the Palestinian Authority Foreign Ministry in Ramallah in the name of the State of Palestine, was supposed to be voted on at an olive council meeting in Madrid this week.

Representatives of the European External Action Service argued that the council is purely a technical organization, and therefore does not fall in the category of the organizations that the Palestinians promised not to join. Moreover, they argued, membership would give the Palestinians access to technical assistance in an industry vital to their economy. But this view didn’t sway Britain and Germany, both of which opposed the application.

The European Union’s member states are represented on the olive council by a single joint delegation, so if these states are unable to reach a consensus on a given issue, the rule is that the EU delegation must abstain from voting.

Therefore, despite the External Action Service’s support for their bid, the Palestinians realized that the European Union’s vote wouldn’t be cast in their favor, and preferred not to suffer a diplomatic failure. Instead, they decided to postpone their application to a more opportune moment, Palestinian officials told Haaretz.

A German Foreign Ministry official said in a statement: “The vote in this decision has not yet taken place and will be taken by the EU, not Germany. The German position related to questions on Palestinian statehood is well known.” No British response was forthcoming.

The Office of the European Union Representative in East Jerusalem said: “The membership to the IOC is in line with Palestinian institution-building efforts which the EU continues to support and has worked on for years. In that context, the EU looks favorably at improving Palestinian technical capacity in the olive oil sector.”

Last October, the PA Foreign Ministry urged the International Olive Council to take urgent action to protect olive trees in the West Bank from settler attacks. It also urged the international community, and particularly members of the Quartet (the United States, United Nations, European Union and Russia), to condemn these attacks.

According to data collected by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, almost 10,000 Palestinian olive trees and saplings in the West Bank have been uprooted or damaged in direct attacks by Israelis since the start of 2013, up from about 8,500 in 2012.

Asked about this issue, the Office of the European Union Representative in East Jerusalem told Haaretz: “The EU has condemned continuous settler violence towards Palestinian farmers and deliberate provocations against Palestinian civilians. It constantly calls on the Israeli authorities to bring the perpetrators to justice and to comply with its obligations under international law.”

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Israel is not interested in peace. Pure and simple. And this move proves
once again that money talks. Palestinians never catch a break and
governments have once again supported tyranny over justice despite the
Western civilian population overwhelmingly opposing Israel's illegal
activities.

The EU will not finance research done by institutions that are located
in the occupied territories. Yet, they do not take decisive stand
against property destruction by the Israelis and do not take steps to
promote oil production in these territories, so needed for the economic
well being of the Palestinians. The EU also knows that the current
negotiations have hit a brick wall and go nowhere. It all amounts to
cheap political games that discredits the EU and raises questions about
its seriousness.

What a joke. Israel may say that they want peace but their actions show
otherwise. Shame on Germany and Britain who would keep out the
Palestinian olive growers. Shame on them for not calling Israel to task
for the destruction of hundreds of thousands of Palestinian olive trees.

These two countries back FAIR TRADE with African countries we in Ireland
gave up our sugar to comply with this Fair Trade agreement. If there is
a FAIR TRADE for Africa while withhold FAIR TRADE with Palestinians.

“The EU has condemned continuous settler violence towards
Palestinian farmers and deliberate provocations against Palestinian
civilians. It constantly calls on the Israeli authorities to bring the
perpetrators to justice and to comply with its obligations under
international law.” I'm sure that after reading such a courageous
stand on the issue, the settlers are going to be terrified and will
immediately stop their savage damages. Poor Palestinian People !

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